Field
Apparatuses, systems, and methods consistent with the exemplary embodiments relate to an image generating device for photographing a three-dimensional (3D) image, and more particularly, to an image generating device capable of photographing a 3D panorama image or similar 3D images of various view angles and/or various resolutions, a 3D image display system having the same and control methods thereof.
Description of the Related Art
In general, a 3D image generating device, for example, a depth camera device refers to a camera device capable of photographing a 3D image, which is applicable to various fields including fields involving body recognition, face recognition, etc.
Such a depth camera device typically includes a depth camera for photographing a depth image, and a color camera for photographing a general color image.
The depth camera is generally classified into two types: a top of flight (TOF) type and an infrared (IR) pattern type.
As shown in FIG. 1, with the TOF type of depth camera, a distance from a subject is calculated through a TOF sensor so as to photograph a depth image 10. The TOF sensor includes a plurality of cells in each of which a light emitter and a light receiver are arranged, and measures the time taken in reflecting and returning infrared (IR) rays from the subject after transmitting the IR rays to the subject, thereby calculating the distance from the subject. The TOF type of depth camera has a simple structure and fast image-processing speed since it employs an algorithm of measuring only the distance, but is affected by interference with external environments such as light because the depth is determined based only on the distance from the subject.
As shown in FIG. 2, the IR pattern type of depth camera involves infrared (IR) rays being emitted to the subject in a specific pattern and a shape of an object corresponding to the emitted IR pattern is recognized to thereby photograph the depth image 10′. The IR pattern type depth camera is less affected by interference from the external environments than the TOF type of depth camera because it recognizes the shape of the subject itself. Therefore, the IR pattern type may be more preferred than the TOF type.
However, both the IR pattern type of depth camera and the TOF type of depth camera employ a lens having a fixed view angle, e.g., a view angle of 38°, and it is therefore impossible to photograph a depth image beyond the fixed view angle of 38°.
As a result, a conventional depth camera device with the foregoing IR pattern type of camera or the TOF type of camera cannot produce a 3D panorama image or a 3D image of various resolutions.
Further, if the depth camera device is used in motion control and/or a 3D image game such as a body recognition game, users of the game have to stand close to each other because the view angle of the 3D image recognized by the depth camera device is narrow. Therefore, users may bump against each other while they are playing the game, and much of the pleasure of the game will be lost.